


I Know The End

by softhorf



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Prime wins basically, at least no one major, but its war so ofc ppl did die, catra and adora have tons of trauma but we been knew, ill put tw's for anything that might be triggering at the beginning of every chap, might be some graphic violence but ill put tw's, no beta we die like angella, no one is like dead!!!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:13:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28630080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softhorf/pseuds/softhorf
Summary: Prime wins, this is the aftermath.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	I Know The End

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this might be complete garbage i am so sorry!! but um, yeah,, for the last like 7 months my head has been like no thoughts,,, she ra only,,,,,, also if u have suggestions for a better summary i am all ears
> 
> tw: self-deprecating thoughts, panic attack
> 
> the pov will shift with each chapter between catra and adora along with some interludes with bow and glimmer

_ Too late.  _ The words ring in Adora’s head.  _ They were too late.  _ It wasn’t supposed to end this way, they were supposed to  _ win.  _ Catra is standing next to her, holding her hand tightly. The battlefield is in absolute carnage. They lost. It’s  _ over.  _ Adora fights the bile rising in her throat. She has to be strong, she can’t get caught. 

They can’t stay here.

She blinks back tears and grabs Catra’s hand, pulling her away. They run, Adora can hardly breathe, but they can’t get  _ caught.  _ They’ll look for the rest of the Princess Alliance later, look for  _ Bow and Glimmer  _ later. They’re in the Whispering Woods, Adora can feel the magic seeping out of it, magic that will soon be siphoned away. Adora can already feel it slipping away and it  _ hurts.  _

(Gods, why does it  _ hurt? _ )

Catra hears Adora’s ragged breathing as they begin to slow down, they’ll be safe for now.  _ Maybe,  _ Adora’s mind supplies. They won’t be safe, not now, maybe never. Adora can faintly hear Catra saying something, trying to calm her down. How can she even  _ begin  _ to calm down? She  _ failed _ and the failsafe  _ burns.  _

(There will forever be a mark upon her chest from where it burned into her, a constant reminder of failure, a constant reminder of  _ death. _ )

“Adora.” She eventually hears Catra say. Her breathing is returning to normal but her thoughts are still going too fast.  _ How are we going to fix this? Are Bow and Glimmer alive? Scorpia, Entrapta?  _ “Adora,” she hears again, “Adora, calm down you have to breathe, okay? Breathe with me.” She does what she’s told, she can’t think, it’s easier to follow Catra’s lead. Her breathing eventually evens, and Catra is looking at her. Her gaze is so full of love and pain.

(Love for her, love she doesn’t deserve, pain she caused.)

“I’m sorry, Catra.” Her voice is shaking, it takes her a moment to realize that her whole  _ body  _ is shaking.

“For what?” And Catra knows what she’s going to say, Adora knows. Even after three years, Catra is still the one person who knows Adora the most.

“I failed.”

“This isn’t your fault, Adora.”

“I didn’t stop it. Why couldn’t I stop it?”

“None of us saw this coming,  _ you  _ didn’t cause this, none of us did.”

Adora doesn’t argue, there’s too much to think about. She puts her head in her hands, “What are we going to  _ do?”  _

“We’ll find the others, regroup, make a plan.”

“Do we even know if they’re alive?” She hears Catra’s sharp intake of breath. Adora is usually the one who has hope, but she  _ can’t  _ right now. She has to think logically, and finding people who are probably chipped or  _ dead,  _ isn’t logical.  _ But what else is there to do? We can’t leave them behind without knowing. We can’t defeat Prime on our own.  _

(Adora feels guilty for even implying they leave the others behind.)   
  


“They might be chipped. We still have a chance.”

“Without Entrapta how do we get the chips off? We don-”

“Dryll, the Fright Zone, they aren’t magically infused. Other than the Black Garnet, but I’m pretty sure Prime doesn’t know about it. We can look at Entrapta’s notes. We could look for notes on the ship, too. We’ll find them.”

Adora nods, it’s their last shot, really. She doesn’t think about the possibility of their deaths,  _ can’t  _ think of it. “Okay. Yeah, let’s do it, not much else we  _ can  _ do, anyway.” Catra gives her a small smile, pained, but a smile. Adora returns it, she aches, but it’s  _ Catra,  _ she loves Catra, and that hasn’t changed.

(She’ll always find the will to smile at Catra.)

“We should go to Dryll first,” Catra says, “It’ll give Prime time to get the Black Garnet, without us getting caught.” Adora nods.

“Should we check Darla?”

Catra hums, “Later, Prime will be looking for us, he’ll expect us to go back to the ship. We’ll go after Dryll, hopefully, they’ll be cleared away by then.”

“How do we know they aren’t just going to destroy the ship?”

“We don’t. But everything really  _ will  _ be lost if we get caught.”

And, well, Adora can’t argue that. She nods. Catra continues, “We should get some rest, for now. You aren’t feeling well, and I’m tired, we’ll go tomorrow.” 

“Okay.” They walk for a while, eventually finding a small cave. It’s secluded, and Adora hopes patrols won’t come this way. Catra grabs some food out of her pack and hands Adora a ration bar. “Ugh, where did you even  _ get  _ these?” 

Catra smirks, “What? Brightmoon made you  _ picky?” _

“No, I just haven’t had to eat something this  _ bland  _ in like, forever.”

“You’re totally picky, I can’t believe this, you used to eat literally anything.”

Adora snorts, the banter lightening her mood, “It’s  _ gross.”  _

“Yeah, well, it’s filling and has the nutrients you need. Besides, it’s a grey one, your favorite.”

“Yay.” She says, with a slight laugh. They eat slowly, occasionally speaking, but mostly silent, both lost in their own thoughts. They’re interrupted by a faint rustling outside, both taking defensive stances. The rustling gets louder, and suddenly Melog emerges, uncloaked.

They both relax immediately. “Melog, hey bud.” Catra sounds relieved, and Adora feels the same because Melog got  _ away. _ It escaped, maybe some others were able to as well. Melog makes a sound and it sounds so  _ sad  _ even to Adora. “It says that Prime got to Bow and Glimmer before Melog could get to them. It tracked me back here, Prime chipped most of them, but-” Catra cuts herself off.

Adora knows where it’s going, but she needs to confirm it, “But what?” She asks, voice soft.

“But Prime, he- he killed civilians, a lot of them. Soldiers, too.” 

“What about-”

“I don’t know. Melog says it didn’t stick around long enough to find out.”

Adora nods, “That’s fair.” She watches as Catra talks to Melog, reassuring it that the three of them are safe, for now.

(They aren’t safe, Adora wants to yell, give up, cry. Everyone deserves so much  _ more  _ than this.)

Catra hugs Adora and tells her to sleep, that she will take the first watch tonight. Adora reluctantly agrees, but she’s too tired to properly fight back. Melog curls next to her, offering warmth and a distinctly protective aura. Adora smiles, closing her eyes.

\----

Her sleep is restless, she dreams about everyone and watches them die gruesome deaths. She wakes up in a cold sweat, it’s still night. Melog curls further into her, a low purring in its throat. Catra turns around to look at her, worry shining in her eyes. 

“I’m okay.” She whispers, quiet. 

Catra gives her a sad smile, “Nightmare?” Adora nods. “Try to go back to sleep, I’ll wake Melog up in a few hours and it can watch the rest of the night. It needs less rest than we do anyway.” Melog makes an affirmative sound. Adora nods again. Closing her eyes.

She wakes up briefly as Catra wakes Melog up, and takes its place beside her. Adora shifts, but Catra makes a shushing noise, and her purring lulls them both into a dreamless sleep.

\----

In the morning, Melog wakes them up, and they set off for Dryll. They try to keep to the woods as much as they can, Adora can still feel the magic here and it gives her hope.

(As much hope as she can have after  _ Prime. _ )

As they exit the forest, the feeling of magic fades away. She feels like something is being ripped away from her, and it  _ hurts,  _ but she breathes through it and ignores Catra’s concerned gaze. They’re quiet, Melog cloaks them as they walk. They can’t see any patrols, but they choose to stay on the safe side.

(They don’t know who might be listening.)

As they near Dryll, they see deactivated robots everywhere. It hits Adora just how much Entrapta left behind, she brought everything of value to the Horde, but there was still _so much._ _They must be experiments that Entrapta didn’t need. I guess she didn’t need robots to serve her in the Horde, either._

It’s eerie, Adora has never seen Dryll so quiet. Adora worries that this is a trap, that Prime has been expecting them. She takes a shaky breath,  _ it’s fine, Adora.  _ She reassures herself,  _ It’s going to be fine, he couldn’t have predicted you’d come here.  _ They walk up to the entrance, and everything is deathly still and quiet. Catra and Adora glance at each other, each taking a deep breath, and they walk in.

  
(But really, when does  _ anything  _ with Adora go according to plan?)

**Author's Note:**

> hi :) please leave a comment and a like and tell me if i should continue!! if you wanna say hi, my tumblr is softhorf i hope you enjoy and im sorry if its not very good!!
> 
> also!!! no major characters are dead, everyone is just assuming the worst!!!!!!
> 
> oh and please don't be mad at me using it/it's for melog!!!! it's what it canonically goes by!!!!!! thank you for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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